grid_lined_ooc | Handy post about locations in g

Lemme preface this with one particular thing that awes me every time I watch Legacy.

The Grid is huge.

It is seriously enormous.<3

The rest of the System, including the Outlands and the Sea, is even bigger.

I'm going to detail a few of its main locations below, but sparsely, because writing between the lines is what we do here; feel free to make up all the Grid architecture that's needed and insert all the detail you wish! What I'm not including are noncanon locations whose importance in-game is tied to specific characters, such as Aadi's gallery, Wulf's clinic, and the Rinzlerpack's secret lair. However, feel free to detail such locations in the comments! :)

CANON LOCATIONS

The Arena

A massive area with sections for different Games, perched on the edge of the Outlands but easily accessible and a popular destination in Tron City. Still the mainstay of Grid entertainment, the Games are just as popular now as they always were -- but with Tron in charge, and his offices on the premises, no one dies anymore. The Armory is below the Arena; some features that have been mentioned in-game are offices, concourses, refreshment areas, and a medical bay to deal with injuries.

Arjia City and Bostrum Colony

Arjia City has still not been rebuilt, but that is not to say it's unoccupied. While many rerezzed ISOs choose to live in Tron City, it is perfectly possible for individuals undesirous of communal life to survive in hiding in the ruined ISO areas, especially if they have lightjets to travel to and from the Grid's populated areas. There was once a highway to Arjia, but the commute might be difficult. Bostrum, now accessible by Solar Sailer, is becoming a thriving colony once again, welcoming ISOs and Basics alike... as long as they abide by its rules. (See below!)

The End of Line Club

Nobody really knows how the club reappeared after being blown up ~~AGAIN~~, but it's back and booming, emceed first by Gem, then by a resurrected Zuse, and currently by Eckert. History of plotting and backstabbing aside, it's your number-one location for music, diversions, and letting off some steam.

Flynn's Arcade

Flynn's original default rezz-in point, though people pulled in by the Portal can appear anywhere. The Arcade is in the heart of Tron City, and the neighborhood, one of the ones reclaimed by rerezzed programs, is much safer than it used to be.

The Outlands

Vehicles configured to run in the Outlands are slowly becoming more mainstream, though only Users can properly configure them (so far), so there's a limited supply. Rugged, empty, lacking energy (either for fuel or nourishment) and usable material for construction, the Outlands contains few oases -- one the hideout to which Flynn was exiled, another a rill of energy pools between the Portal and Tron City, and more, perhaps, which remain undiscovered.

The Portal

Now a giant sphere of strange energies rather than a pillar of light, the Portal is visible from Tron City as a small distant sun over the Sea. Any platforms and constructions near it are the domain of the Portal programs. It is accessible via Solar Sailer or other flying vehicles.

The Sea of Simulation

Still vast, still corrupted by an ISO-destroying virus, the Sea is accessible by light-jet and by a lightcycle road which runs along the rocky, sandy shore, and the Solar Sailer still sails over it on its way to the Portal. Numerous islands of dark matter, destroyed by the Reintegration but accruing again over time, float suspended on energy grapples above the seething surface.

GRID_LINED ORIGINALS

The Archives

A searchable databank of Grid history, useful for newcomers who need to catch up on what happened, what changed, and who's dead or alive. Destroyed once by sabotage, this important resource was rebuilt from backups and is once again at full operating capacity.

The Park

A wide swath of levels, terraces, and ramps constructed to a more airy and open design than the urban areas of the Grid, easily big enough to get lost in. Highlights include energy fountains, ISO-made statuary, benches and quiet walkways, and lovely views of the city.

Clu's Floating Fortress of Doom and Chichanery

Thwarted in attempts to regain control of the Grid, Clu took over a floating island -- its location a jealously guarded secret, a gathering place for those who (voluntarily or otherwise) support his vision of a perfect system.

Currently there's talk of an impending Villain Zone, and depending how things play out, that'll either get listed up here or in the comments. Watch this space! \o/

To post about a location of your own (that's been used in-game by various characters in more than one situation), comment with a description and put its name and the general area where it can be found in the subject line. (Note: please chart more personal locations, like your characters' living quarters or top-secret personal hideouts, elsewhere; this post is for broadly-used public stuff.) And as always: have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Random questions, comments, suggestions, and discussion about the above information can go here!~

Edited 2012-02-15 02:05 (UTC)

(Not exactly sure where this would go, so I'm posting it here.)

Don't forget the borderlands. Just beyond the edges of Tron City(and the other cities too, I suppose), it's sort of an inbetween area. Not as bleak as the Outlands, but not really welcoming either. Probably where programs who want to get out of the crush of things, but aren't up to leaving the city completely; not developed. In the area the border scouts patrol, probably, so programs who get into trouble can be reasonable sure of a rescue.

Edited 2014-02-05 14:54 (UTC)

Don't forget the hot tubs below the games arena. /trollface...

And the energy pool cavern not far from the sea of simulation! One of my favorite spots. :D

This thread is for places NOT owned, operated, or staffed by a player character. If your character visits a club, store, hangout, or other location which is run by NPCs and exists to give people a place to do things in, post it as a reply to this comment, with the title in the subject line and a brief description.

Hexadecimal is a nightclub reopening under new management in Sector 186 in Tron City. The old club had attained a bad reputation for banning ISOs, and was abandoned and destroyed during Clu's regime.

Proprietor: Rubix, a gentle but strong-willed older program whom some suspect is an ISO in disguise, and who is taking various steps to turn the club's old reputation on its head. Amenities: wall tables and balconies, small but excellent and frequently changing selection of specials, canned music (so far), bar and dancefloor.

Edited 2013-09-22 19:35 (UTC)

This thread is for places that ARE owned, operated, or staffed by a player character. If your character runs a utility or works at a location which others can visit, post it as a reply to this comment, with the title in the subject line and a brief description.

The Clinic is one of several similar places around the city, a walk-in repair facility where programs and ISOs can be treated for various injuries. It also houses a quarantine wing, virus research lab, medical supply depot, and lifts to resting quarters on an upper floor for recompilers working several shifts in succession. It's well-staffed at all hours, easily accessible, and listed in all the directories so everyone can find it. Wulf leads its medical team, and can usually be found there or tooling around the city in one of its fleet of ambulance tanks.

While individual medics might have prejudices of one type or another, Tron City's clinics are supposed to be willing to treat anybody who needs their assistance, no matter what side they're on. Wulf's clinic, though it has been attacked by various Rinzlers in the past, adheres to this practice.

Edited 2014-02-02 04:59 (UTC)

First seen in Ram-XR71's original introduction to the Grid, the Cascade springs are an energy seep about 90 microcycles travel time from Tron City by lightjet, and double that by off-road vehicle.

Over the cycles, the energy has cut away at the Outlands structure, creating a multi-tier formation of smaller pools along a small cliff face. Despite its proximity, it's gone relatively undisturbed, leading to it being a veritable paradise for Bits. Although no program, utility, or organization lays proprietary claim over the location, XR has taken it upon himself to be a caretaker, keeping an eye out for trouble that might upset the delicate balance of the pools which are so vital to the health of the Grid.

The Office of Updates and Integration Assistance, aka Office of Integrations, or 'Oi,' is located in Beta Sector, Tron City. The building it is housed in is within walking distance of the End of Line club, although the trek might be a bit far. The proprietor of the O.I. is Kip-2x9FC, a Kernel Integration Processor from a modern personal computer system.

Visiting the O.I. is comparable to visiting a therapist. Programs can walk in or make appointments, or be brought there by friends, to receive help. This help can be anything from needing a middle-man for a dispute, to requests for updates which would then be relayed to the nearest available User, helping new arrivals to acclimate to their new surroundings, or even speaking with individuals to help them work through problems that are frustrating them, among other smaller options offered. The goal of the O.I. is to ensure the Grid operates at maximum efficiency.

Klip's Hangar is a large-scale vehicle storage and maintenance facility which deals primarily with jets, helicopters, Recognizers, tanks, trains, and trucks. Sati works here, primarily on anything that flies.

Proprietor: Klip, an experienced Basic mechanic displaced from Bismuth. Gruff but fair. She also personally manages Sati's crew, one of several which work simultaneously to keep up with the workflow.
Amenities: city-wide vehicle repair and maintenance (though there are other comparable facilities serving more distant clusters of sectors), 3000-unit parking/storage in adjacent lots, small-scale repair division, mods and vehicles made to order.

The Stats Department is responsible for running all the numbers. All of them. Power consumption ratios, population and demographic statistics, gridbug fault-tracking, weather trends, traffic patterns, long-term sustainability calculations -- you bring them the raw figures, they do the math and tell you what it means.

Every city has its Stats division, with multiple branches for bigger cities where travel lag might delay the results. The branch where Ram works, serving a large portion of Tron City, is a busy, upbeat place. Since it can be important to get the right figures as fast as possible (say, when calculating power settings necessary to reduce the effects of a surge or crash), the department makes sure to have more than enough backup programs in place to handle twice their normal load; thus, the Stats programs are seldom overworked and have plenty of time for fun.

They do a lot of recruiting, too. Ram, a former actuarial program written to deal with risk management calculations, fits in fine, and encourages anyone written to deal with numbers or number theory to apply.

A bunch of insane people went into the Outlands and started hosing Bostrum down with antivirus and took it over. XD

The local administrator is Esme, running with an advisory council of other colonists representing each of the groups that have come to rest there. It's a mix of old Bostrum colonists, disaffected rebels wary of the local admin because hostage trade, disaffected former Clu followers who are terrified of Clu but also don't like the Users, a handful of other ISO refugees, and other assorted ne'er do wells who were chafing in Tron City. Somehow it works.

Bostrum is still intensely rebuilding, and it'll be cycles before they're done, but their energy processing and distillation facilities are online and trade is starting to trickle back to Tron City.

Former colonists are welcome at any time as long as they check in with local ops, but otherwise if you want to get access beyond the "public" area of the colony you've got to sign on and work.

Handy post about locations in g_l!

QUESTIONS

Suggestion

no subject

NPC-RUN LOCATIONS

CLUB: HEXADECIMAL

PC-RUN LOCATIONS

TRON CITY: Wulf's Clinic

Outlands: Cascade Energy Springs

Tron City: Office of Updates and Integration Assistance (Oi.)

TRON CITY: Klip's Hangar and Vehicle Repair Facility

TRON CITY: Department of Statistics and Analysis

Bostrum Colony